Sheet metal nail having channel shaped, barbed spreading legs



E. GSONDI May 15, 1956 SHEET METAL NAIL HAVING CHANNEL SHAPED BARBED SPREADING LEGS Filed MarohZQ, 1955 INVENTOR ,zamzeZ Gisoulz', BY v l @b5 2a ATTO NEY United States Patent SHEET METAL NAIL HAVVNG CHANNELl SHAPED, BARBED SPREADING LEGS Emanuel Gisondi, Scarsdale, Y. Application March 29, 1955, Serial No. 497,695

3 Claims. l(Cl. 85-il3) present time are very diicult to employ when it is necessary to securely fasten articles to them. This is particularly true in the case of various types of relatively-soft wall boards, such as those made of cane libres and like materials'. The builder faced with the problem of attaching shingles, siding and like elements to these soft and penetrable sheet materials, nds it dilicultA indeed to securely fasten them in place;

It is therefore' an object of the present invention to provide a'V nail especially adapted for securing shingles, siding or other .materialV to soft andv penetrable wall board or roofing', which nail shall, by a simple driving movemen't, clench or spreadV its legs in a manner to positively prevent' its removal from the board, except by the destruction of a substantial area of the board itself. It isA anobject of the invention' to provide a nail of this character made of sheet metal, so that it shall be of light weight, strong, easily driven and positively locking, thereby enabling the work of fastening shingles, siding orfthe like to proceedY krapidly and accurately.

More particularly, the invention contemplates the provision of a nail having a pair of legs integrally extending therefrom the head and legs being formed of one piece or blank of sheet metal, with the head of channel shape, and barbed on their edges, the barbed edges of one of the legs facing the similar edges of the second leg, and with the concave sides of the nails directed toward one another, the legs diverging adjacent to their pointed extremities, which diverging parts of the legs, causes spreading of the legs when the nail is driven into the soft or low-density material.

It is another object of the invention to provide a sheetmetal nail having a head formed integrally with the pair of legs on the nail and which head shall be stitfened and reinforced by lateral, tab-like extensions on the legs.

It is another object of the invention to provide a nail having a pair of legs adapted to be spread apart by the operation of driving the nail and which legs shall present angular faces to the direction of spreading movement, to thereby avoid material resistance thereto.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth, in view, I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

Fig. 1 is a face view of the sheet-metal blank from which the improved nail is produced;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the nished nail;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the nail, looking at the side of the same opposite to that of Fig. 2;

2,745,308 Patented May 15, 1956 ICC Fig. 4 is a view looking at the inner face of one of thelegs yof the nail;

Fig. 5 is a sectionalV view, taken substantially lony the line S-5=of Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the-arrows;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 7 is a view, showing how the legs of the nail will spread when thte nail is driven into material, and

Fig. 8 is a face view of a blank from which a nail of modified construction is made.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to Fig'. l thereof, 1 indicates theblank from which the nail is made. The blank disclosed may be made-from relatively thin sheet metal of a rust-resistant nature or of a metal that has been Ytreated to be resistant to corrosion. In the form shown, the blank 1 is provided at oneA end with the disk-like part 2 which forms the head of the nail, and which is integrally connected to the body 6 by the neck` portion 16, the side edges of which are defined by the spaced, parallel slits 3 and 4. Extending inwardly froml the upper edge of the body portion 6 and parallel to the slits 3 and 4, is a slit 5, and said slit 5, together with theslits 3 and 4, divide the top edge of the body 6int`o the'v four lug portions indicated' respectively at 14, 15, 16. andV 19. These four lug portions extend under and come into contact with andreinforce the head2 in the manner shown in Fig. 6.

VThe bodyportion 6 of the blank is bifurcated or longi'tudinally divided into the two sections indicated respectively at 7 and 8, which sections form the two legs of thel nail. lt will be noted that one edge of veach of the legs 7 and 8 is toothed or serrated' in a manner to prov-ide the barbs 1li, while the second edge of each of the legsgis barbed as-indicated at 11. 'Ihe barbs 11 are staggered with respect to those indicated at 10, as will be apparent from Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive. "Thus, when the leg 7` is longitudinally folded on the line 31 to cause it to assume a ilattened V-shape in crossA section, as-seen in Figs. 5 and. 6,th'e' barbs formed onone ofthe e'dgesfof- Vthe leg-willhbetransversely disalignedwitli those onthefsecond edgelof the le'g. Similarly,.when'th'e1le'g Slis longitudinally folded on the line 32 to form it into thede sired ilattened V-shape, the barbs 10 and 11 on the two edges of this leg will be disaligned or staggered. This staggered arrangement of the teeth or barbs on the two legs provides greater anchoring facility for the nail.

In converting the blank 1 to the nished nail shown in Fig. 2 and 3, the blank is folded on the three longitudinal fold lines 9, 31 and 32, and the head 2 is folded down at the upper end of the neck 16. The lugs 14, 15 and 19 are bent laterially to underlie and contact with the head, and these three lugs, together with the neck portion 16, extend out laterally from the upper ends of the legs 7 and 8 and contact the undersurface of the head to thereby greatly stiften and reinforce the head.

The nished nail is shown in Figs. 2 and 3, wherein it will be observed that the facially-opposed concave surfaces of the two legs 7 and 8 present staggered teeth or barbs along their edges, and the teeth on one of the legs, face inwardly toward the teeth on the other leg. The attened V-shape of the legs is such that the two legs co-operate in forming a nail shank of substantially square or rectangular cross-section, as will be apparent from Fig. 6.

In Fig. 7 is disclosed the manner in which the legs of the nail will spread apart when the nail is driven into material. Therein, the overlapped portions of shingles, siding or other penetrable material are indicated at 21 and 22, and which are attached to a base material of low density, such as libre board indicated at 23. The nail is driven through the materials 21 and 22 and into the board l23 by hammer blows, and as it encountersthe resistance of the materialr23,the legs 7 and 8 will tend to spread apart, or separate, at a point beginning with the notch 20, towardV the pointed ends 12 and 13 ofthe legs. The angular Vcross-sectional shape of the legs 7 and 8 is such that the legs Willvspread outwardly'with a minimum of resistance due lto Vthe inclined surfaces on the legs, and Vwhich are presented in the direction of :out-

-ward movement ofthe legs during the spreading action.Y When the legs spread outwardly as above described,.and Ythey very often spread to'an extent considerably greater than that shown in Fig.' 7, according to the density -vof the material into lwhich. the nail is driven, a clenching ,A

action is attained,rand the `angularity ofthe spread legs,

and the barbed arrangement thereon, v, strongly resist dis.

In fact, tests y placement of the-nail out of thev material. have indicated that the material through which thev nail is driven, will pull apart orfdisintegratewhen an eiort is made to draw out the nail, rather than permit withdrawal of the nail.' The staggered arrangement of the barbs or teethon the edges of the legs of the nail permits easy driving of 'the andrnaterially increases the resistance of the nail to withdrawal. It will be further notedv that the edges of the legs V7 and 8 are inclined or divergeV toward the pointed ends 12 and 13, as indicated at 33 and 34, which arrangement materially facilitates the spreading of the legs when the nail is driven.

In Figs. 1 to 3 Vis'shown a nail wherein the twoilegs.

are brought to a facially-disposed position by the longitudinal folding of Ya bifurcated strip. In'Fig. 8 is shown a blank from which a nail` may be produced in a diierent manner. Therein, the blank consists of an elongated strip having a disk-like central portion 24 constituting the head ofthe nail. Extending in opposite directions from the head 24 are the legsf27 and 28, the same being Vsubstantially similar to those shown at 7 and 8 in Figs. 1,

to 3, and having the same staggered barb arrangement. These legs 27 and 28 are also longitudinally folded down theirv centers to form them into the attened V-shape heretofore described. Leg.27 is integrally connected'to the head by the neck portion 29, and leg 28 is connected to the head byV a similar neck portion 30. f Whenthe legs 27 and 28 are lfolded on their respective fold lines 25 and 26`and theY neck portions 29 and 30 folded underneath the head 24, the forming of the nail will be complete.

d' Y 2,745,3os

Having described a single` embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that Vthe same is not to be restricted f thereby, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexed claims.

What I claim is: Y l. A sheet metal nail comprising, a head, a channelshaped leg of substantially-V-shape in cross-section ex.

tending therefrom, the leg being barbed along` its edges, said leg having an integral, laterally-extending portion connected to a second similar channel-shaped, barbed-edge leg, the legs having their barbed edges and concave sides` directed toward each other to forma shank substantially rectangular in cross-sectiony with the edges adjacent the head in contact with veach other, the A:barbed edges of the legs diverging adjacent to the ends of the legs whereby percussive contact with the nail head will cause the legs to spread apart when driven into work, both legs being provided withk a plurality 'of lugs extending substantially at right angles with respect tothe leg and underlying and! contacting thehead for reinforcing the head. r

.2. A sheetrmetal nail-as provided in claim L'WhereinY one of the lugs of therst-named leg constitutes an integral link between the head and saidl leg. .3. A sheet-metal nailasprovided in claim 1, wherein the barbs of the legs at one side of the shank are staggered with respect to the barbs of the legs at the other side of the shank.

References Cited inthe le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS France K Dec. 11, 1943 

